[Lascalas - Refinish or veneer?]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:45 AM, gigantic said:

I used it for everything but the mahogany trim for the build that I detailed elsewhere. It takes about 5 days to cure, but then it is quite durable. I then clear coated it with automotive 2K poly, but it probably wasn’t absolutely necessary. 

Super helpful - thank you!

[Lascalas - Refinish or veneer?]

On 9/28/2023 at 12:10 AM, gigantic said:

I’ve had extremely good results using Benjamin Moore Advance hybrid alkyd/latex enamel. I restored a pair of H700 Heresy decorators with it and used it on my current speakers. It’s better sprayed than brushed or rolled. 

Thank you!

[Lascalas - Refinish or veneer?]

3 hours ago, JMeader said:

I went the veneer route

 

1)    it took 3    4x8 sheets of veneer to get the grain flow right

 

2) I found a true wood working craftsman to do the job - best decision I made

 

3) the woofer bin is the most difficult, you need to get a lot of weight on each inside sheet during the glue drying process we used sand bags and a piece of train rail for weight. Because of this the bin area took 4 days alone to veneer that area. Also we first painted the very back of the bin black before veneering because we could not figure out how to veneer that space and it is already dark in that area anyway.

 

4) you will have to decide how you will deal with the surround edges of the tweeter and squaker area. there are a couple of ways to deal with these edges but you need to decide before you start the actual veneer process as you need to match grain flow.

 

5) We made paper templates for each piece and then laid them out on the 4X8 sheets for grain flow very important process

 

6) Would I do it again Yes my 1987 La Scala's I think were used in a bar atmosphere and were really beat up with scratches and gouges everywhere.

 

7) we decided to put a thin layer of MDF on all outside of the speakers this helps with the resonance issue know with this age of La Scala

 

Hope this helps  and as always Enjoy The Music

 

Those look amazing! Congrats. I assume the MDF also gave you a smoky and consistent surface for applying the veneer? How thick was the MDF, did it seem to add much size/weight (as you know, the speakers are pretty giant already), and how did you to fix the MDF to the speaker surface? Thanks again for all that helpful information!

[Lascalas - Refinish or veneer?]

8 hours ago, Dave MacKay said:

 

If you plan on veneering them eventually, I’d recommend that you not paint them because you may end up having to strip the paint when it comes time to veneer.

 

If you insist on painting them, you could use Duratex.

Thank you, Dave. Yes, I do ultimately want to  get them veneered. Duratex is a pretty thick texture (and not the look I’m going for), so I agree that would be a bad move. I just wonder if there is an intermediate approach that would look good and cover the bare wood +  bondo look - it’s pretty terrible! Thanks again for the advice!

[Lascalas - Refinish or veneer?]

Hi everyone. I have a pair of very well-loved (read ‘totally beat up’) Lascalas. In preparation for putting a veneer on them, I have had to build up every edge to a right angle as the edges were  rounded. I’ve been using Bondo, working for a very long time, and they’re finally starting to look square. 😊 I’m not very skilled at working with veneer, so I’d like to paint them in the interim, until I can  get the cash together to have someone veneer them for me. I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a paint (black) and process for making them look nice-ish for now. I saw an earlier thread that had the following picture and would love it if I could get to that place. Thank you!